A tale of two halves ends in a shocking win!

Confession time: like many of us, I spent much of the three hours plus of game time expecting Philly to lose. I even drafted a version of this column expecting an embarrassing loss. I mean, what were we hanging our hats on?

• Philly largely lifeless in the first half, with only Zach Baun appearing to have a pulse.

• LA's kickoff gimmick had the Birds completely flummoxed; the Eagles had no way of dealing with it and it probably cost them about 50 yards of field position.

• LA had totally dominated the first half box score by nearly unprecedented margins, with only the Eagles' rock solid red zone defense (more on this in a moment) keeping the score somewhat respectable. The Eagles' 33 first half yards were the fewest in the Nick Sirianni era. Overall, the Rams outgained the Eagles 212-33, outfirstdowned them 13-4 and outpossessed them 18 minutes to 12. Those numbers put one in mind of last February's Super Bowl.

• Possibly of greatest concern, Lane Johnson got hurt early and wouldn't return. Coming into today, the Eagles had only won 40% of the games in which Lane missed more than 50% of the snaps (18-27 overall).

Apparently, all Philly needed to do to get back in the game was switch out reserve guard Matt Pryor for swing tackle Fred Johnson at right tackle (why they didn't go to Big Fred immediately is beyond me), and pivot from the conservative, ball control offense to a more aggressive downfield passing attack and the comeback was on. The Eagles still made a couple dumb moves (going for it on 4th down and seven from midfield, taking the timeout with 18 seconds left which allowed LA the luxury of calling their preferred play on the next snap), but a second blocked FG snatched victory from the jaws of defeat.

How did this happen? What should we be thinking about now? Well...:

• We talked last week about the high leverage things that don't show up heavily in the box score but have outsized impact on the game. In this game it's simple: the Rams scored 3.25 points per red zone opportunity, the Eagles scored 6.67. Philly was 3-for-3 and LA was 1-for-4. The Rams drove into Eagle territory on ten of their eleven possessions and only managed 26 points. The Eagles scored 27 points on just five possessions that got into LA territory.

• This game marks the 12th time Jalen has lead a comeback of at least nine points over the last 4+ season. Remarkable stuff. He ended up with a passer rating of 117.1 (three scores, no picks) and ran for 40 more yards, four first downs and another score. He did record his second fumble of the season after getting rocked following a blown block by Pryor, but he should have seen that coming. Still, a remarkable game overall from No. 1.

• Jordan Davis had maybe his best game ever, five total tackles including two for loss (one sack and another on fourth down), and his monster blocked FG turned TD combo to nail the win. He's playing the best ball of his young career and may be breaking out at last.

• Mentioned it above, but it's perplexing that it took 2.5 games and a three score deficit to uncork the deep passing game. It's been all but nonexistent till this afternoon. Better late than never, I suppose.

• The dark cloud hanging over this result is Lane's injury; haven't yet heard an update but if it's serious, this might by a Pyrrhic victory.

Big picture, you'll hear hand wringing from some about a third straight game to open the season that Philly won but could have lost (which is at least partially true), but again, starting fast is not a prerequisite to championship contention. In their two Super Bowl winning seasons, the Eagles started 5-3 combined through their first four games and outscored their opponents by an average of 0.1 points per game. Slow starts are nothing to get too upset over, especially if they avoid major injuries (fingers crossed about Lane) and ESPECIALLY if the team has finally managed to fix their passing game. On top of that, you'd struggle to point to any team that's looked consistently brilliant through three games:

• Buffalo struggled to put away a terrible Miami team and needed a miracle comeback of their own to beat Baltimore

• Green Bay just lost to Cleveland (HAHA)

• KC is hoping to beat the Giants just to avoid an 0-3 start

• Detroit had an ugly loss on opening day to the Packers

• The Colts are unbeaten but have played a trash schedule

• Ditto to whoever wins the Cardinals-49ers game currently going

• Tampa is also unbeaten but has had to win all three games on last minute drives

• Houston is off to the most disappointing start of any team at 0-3

Bottom line: it's still September and no one really knows much of anything yet. Philly has played three pretty good teams and beaten all three. Just stay healthy, keep stacking wins and trying to improve. Stay tuned!